Material handling machine



April 10, 1956 s. T. MORGAN MATERIAL HANDLING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original iled Dec. 3, 1949 l NVE N TO R S/dney [Morgan April 10, 1956 s. T. MORGAN MATERIAL HANDLING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Dec. 3 1949 INVENTOR Sidney IMO/19a)? j Z Z m Ea v/JL April 10, 1956 s. T. MORGAN MATERIAL HANDLING MACHINE Original Filed Dec. 3 1949 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 foney E 12298)? zmx 0% United Sttes Patent 3 MATERIAL HANDLER MACHINE Sidney T. Morgan, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to Salem- Brosius, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Continuation of application Serial No. 130,962, December 3, 1949. This application November 12, 1952, Serial No. 319,997

4 Claims. (Cl. 214--26) This invention relates to material handling machines, especially machines adapted for charging work into and withdrawing the same from heating furnaces or other treating chambers or for handling work in connection with performing operations on the work such as forging or the like. This application is a continuation of my copending application Serial No. 130,962, filed December 3, 1949, now abandoned.

Machines for the purposes mentioned are Well known to those skilled in the art, generally being termed manipulators. Such manipulators comprise a body or frame, a peel for handling the work and means for manipulating the peel. The manipulator is movable as a whole to position or transfer the work, such movement being effected in various ways, e. g., by mounting the manipulator frame or body on wheels so that it may be operated on a furnace room or shop floor or by supporting and guiding the device upon tracks either beneath or above it.

The present invention is adaptable to manipulators of all of the types above referred to but for purposes of explanation and illustration the invention will be described as embodied in what is known in the art as an auto floor manipulator in which the frame or body is mounted upon Wheels which may be rubber-tired upon which it is adapted to be run about the floor at will. The motive power may be derived either from an engine or from an electric motor supplied with current through a flexible cable as well known in the art. In the structure shown in the drawings a gasoline or Diesel engine is used as the prime mover to drive a generator and a fluid pump, the current generated by the generator being used to'operate a tractor motor for moving the manipulator about the floor and the fluid compressed by the pump being employed for steering and the various manipulator motions.

It is well known in the art to provide for raising and lowering and various angular movements of the peel. However, the manipulators heretofore developed have not been suitable for certain operations. For example, one of the principal uses of manipulators of the type in question is to charge billets or bars into and withdraw them from heating furnaces. Normally the heating furnace consists of a relatively large furnace chamber with a relatively small opening through which the work must be charged and Withdrawn. Heretofore in order to arrange work in the furnace to the side of the opening it has been necessary to change the position on the floor of the manipulator as a whole, resulting in great waste of time, power and labor, or in any event to introduce the work so as to lie in the furnace non-parallel to the axis of the opening, complicating the necessary subsequent step of withdrawing the work from the furnace. Another use of such manipulators is to hold work being operated on by forging dies. A forging die having two sets of cooperating die portions may be employed, it being necessary to move the work laterally from one set of cooperating die portions to the other set of cooperating die portions. Heretofore such movement of the work has been ice possible only by either backing up the entire manipulator, realigning it and moving it forward on the new line to reposition the work or by turning the peel at an angle so that the work is presented to the different sets of cooperating die portions at different angles. In many cases it is not feasible to present the work to the different sets of cooperating die portions at difierent angles because it is necessary to maintain uniform orientation of the work. Hence the first method just mentioned of manipulating work being operated on by forging dies is the one universally employed; but the backing up and realigning of the entire manipulator is time wasting and expensive and altogether unsatisfactory.

Despite the disadvantages above explained which have been recognized in the art for many years no fully satisfactory solution to the problem has been devised prior to my invention.

1 have solved the long existing problem by providing a manipulator having means whereby the peel may be shifted laterally in a substantially rectilinear motion. Such shifting of the peel may be effected rapidly and without any movement whatever of the main frame or body of the manipulator. Thus billets may be charged into a heating furnace through a relatively small opening by introducing the end of the peel which carries the billet through the opening and then moving the peel transversely to position the billet in the furnace at least partially offset from the opening but still parallel to the axis of the opening. The portion of the peel which lies in the opening when the billet being'held by the peel at the end thereof is within the furnace .is comparatively narrow or slim compared to the tongs and the billet so that after the billet has been introduced through the opening there is considerable room for lateral movement of the peel before it engages either side of the opening or door frame. Thus I can position a number of billets side by side with their axes parallel to the axis of the opening whereas such an operation was not possible prior to my invention without repositioning the billets in the furnace after laying them down. Moreover, Work being forged can be almost instantly shifted laterally from one set of cooperating die portions to another set of cooperating die portions while maintaining its orientation. The provision for lateral movement of the peel also has other advantages when the manipulator is put to particular uses.

I provide a material handling machine comprising a frame, means carrying the frame on which the frame is generally horizontally movable from place to place, the frame having a generally horizontal guideway, a peel carrier carried by the frame and movable along the guideway and a peel carried by the peel carrier and oriented generally horizontally at substantially right angles to the guideway. The peel, which is normally elongated, may be mounted on the frame for generally horizontally gen erally rectilinearly movement relatively to the frame substantially normal to the peel and means are preferably provided which are carried by one of the frame and peel and connected with the other thereof and are operable to move the peel generally horizontally generally rectilinearly relatively to the frame substantially normal to the peel.

The frame may carry mounting means for the peel, the mounting means being substantially straight and generally horizontally oriented, and the peel may be mounted on the mounting means so as to extend generally horizontally generally transversely of the mounting means. The mounting means may be comprised of a plurality of generally parallel mounting members forming a generally horizontal guideway. The means carrying the frame on.

o the peel.

Disposed about each of the shafts 4 and 14 have means comprising said axle forming the generally horizontal guideway.

V outer ,end thereof, in which case means are provided for operating the tongs. The means for operating the tongs may comprise means for opening and closing the tongs and meansv for turning the tongs generally about the axis of Other details, objects and present preferred embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown a present preferred embodiment of the invention, in which Figure l is a plan view of a manipulator; Figure 2 is an elevational view of the manipulator 7 shown in Figure l; and

Figure 3 is an'enlarged fragmentary vertical transverse cross-sectional view taken on the line llllll of Figure 1.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, there is provided a manipulator carried by spaced apart front wheels 2 and a single central rear wheel 3. The front wheels 2 are journaled upon the ends of the front axle '4 which, as will presently appear, is one of the two shafts serving as guides for lateral movement of the peel. The rear wheel 3 is mounted upon a short axle 5 mounted in a bracket 6 carrying an electric tractor motor 7 connected through gearing (not shown) with the axle 5. The manipulator is moved aboutthe floor on the wheels 2 and 3 by operation of the tractor motor 7. The bracket 6 is carried upon a vertical shaft journaled in the main frame or body of-the manipulator as known in the art, such vertical shaft being turned through 'a pinion keyed thereto by a rack carried by a piston rod connected witha piston operating in a cylinder 8. t

- The main frame or body of the manipulator is designated generally bylreference numeral 9 and comprises opposed side members is? extending longitudinally of the machineconnected bycross members 11 at the front and 7 .rear of the machine. The side members have bushings extendsbetween the side members 10 similarly to the shaft 4 and is parallel to the shaft 4.

v I are two bushings which are disposed apart a predetermined distance and each of which has a flange 16. A sleeve 17 is disposed about each of the shafts 4 and 14 and telescopes the. two bushings 15 thereon and abuts the bushing flanges 16 asshown in Figure 3. Connected with the Z bushings 15 and sleeves 17 are longitudinally extending members 18 which are parallel to each other and to the side members 10 of the manipulator and are maintained a fixed distance apart by reason of their connection with the bushings and sleeves. The members 18 constitute the principal members: of a peel carrier upon which is canti- V which is connected the piston rod 26 of a piston operating advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following description of a in a cylinder 27 pivotally mounted beneath the peel carrier upon trunnions 28L" 7 The peel carrier also has a cross shaft 29 upon which is mounted a generally vertically oriented cylinder 30 within which operates a piston whose piston rod 31 is connected through a resilient sliding connection designated generally by reference numeral 32 and known to those skilled in the art with the rear end of the peel. '"Ihe mo tions imparted to the peel by operation of the pistons in the cylinders 27 and 30 are well known to those skilled in the an- The peel is rotated by a hydraulic motor 33 through a coupling 34 and a gear reducer 35. The jaws or tongs of the peel are opened and closed in conventional manner by a piston rod36 of a piston operated in a cylinder 37.

' carried by the peel.

lit)

The prime mover of the manipulator is a gasoline or Diesel engine within a hood designated generally by reference numeral 38. The engine drives the armature of a generator 39 whose shaft 40 is connected through a coupling 41 with a pump 42 for compressing hydraulic fluid from a reservoir 43. Suitable control mechanism designated generally by reference numeral 44 is manipulatable by an operator to cause operation of the pistons in the various cylinders by the com'pressed hydraulic fluid. The controls also include means, whereby current generated 'by the generator 39 operates the tractor motor 7 to move the manipulator over the floor.

Mounted on the main frame of the manipulator-is a cylinder 45 within which operates a piston having a piston rod 46 connected with the peel carrier. Hydraulic fluid under pressure for operating the piston in the cylinder 45 likewise is furnished by the pump 42. When fluid is admitted to the cylinder 45 below 1e piston therein viewing Figure l the peel carrier including the members 18 and the other mechanism connected therewith moves'bodily in'a translatory substantially rectilinear movement along the shafts 4 and 14 upwardly'viewing Figure 1 and when fluid is admitted to the cylinder 45 above the piston therein the carrier moves in the opposite direction; v

The portions of the shafts 4 and 14. between the bushlugs 15 are protected at all times'by the sleeves 17. I provide collapsible boots' 47 about the portions of the shafts 4 and 14 outside the peel carrier to protect-the portions of those shafts outside the bushings. The boots 47 are connected between the members 10 and 18 as shown in Figure 3 and operate like accordions in expanding and contracting movements. consonantly with] desired extent without disturbing its orientation, thus making it possible to move the. work laterally from one position to another without moving the manipulator as a whole and while maintainingthe desired orientationof the work. Such movement of the peel carrier does not interfere with the normal manipulations of the peel.

While I have shown and described a present preferred embodiment of the invention his to be distinctly understood. that the invention is not limited thereto but may be otherwise variously embodied within the scope of the following claims.

I claim: l. A furnace charger having a wheel-mounted frame,

7 means for steering the charger in any desired direction on a furnace room floor, the charger having, a peel for charging billets into furnaces, the peel extending generally forwardly, mounting means c rrying the peel,;sub-

the peel may be shifted at right angles to its length by movement of the mounting means along the substantially straight supporting and guidiag means whereby to precisely align the peel with a furnace door after the charger has been moved upon its wheels to a position in approximate alignment with the furnace door and powered means extending between the frame and the mounting means for moving the mounting means along the supporting and guiding means.

2. A furnace charger having a wheel-mounted frame, means for steering the charger in any desired direction on a furnace room floor, the charger having a peel for charging billets into furnaces, the peel extending generally forwardly, mounting means carrying the peel, a plurality of generally parallel substantially straight supporting and guiding members on the frame extending generally from side to side of the charger along which the mounting means are movable so that the peel may be shifted at right angles to its length by movement of the mounting means along the generally parallel substantially straight supporting and guiding members whereby to precisely align the peel with a furnace door after the charger has been moved upon its wheels to a position in approximate alignment with the furnace door and powered means extending between the frame and the mounting means for moving the mounting means along the generally parallel substantially straight supporting and guiding members.

3. A furnace charger having a wheel-mounted frame, means for steering the charger in any desired direction on a furnace room floor, the charger having a peel for charging billets into furnaces, the peel extending generally forwardly, mounting means carrying the peel, substantially straight supporting and guiding means on the frame extending generally from side to side of the charger along which the mounting means are movable so that the peel may be shifted at right angles to its length by movement of the mounting means along the substantially straight supporting and guiding means whereby to precisely align the peel with a furnace door after the charger has been moved upon its wheels to a position in approximate alignment with the furnace door, the substantially straight supporting and guiding means including an axle of the charger, and powered means extending between the frame and the mounting means for moving the mounting means along the supporting and guiding means.

4. A furnace charger having a Wheel-mounted frame, means for steering the charger in any desired direction on a furnace room floor, the charger having a peel for charging billets into furnaces, the peel extending generally forwardly, mounting means carrying the peel, substantially straight supporting and guiding means on the frame extending generally from side to side of the charger along which the mounting means are movable so that the peel may be shifted at right angles to its length by movement of the mounting means along the substantially straight supporting and guiding means whereby to precisely align the peel with a furnace door after the charger has been moved upon its wheels to a position in approximate alignment with the furnace door, a cylinder mounted on one of the frame and the mounting means, a piston operable within the cylinder and a piston rod connected with the piston and with the other of the frame and the mounting means for moving the mounting means along the supporting and guiding means.

Deucher Dec. 21, 1926 Brosius Apr. 4, 1944 

